Pages

Monday, October 20, 2014

Welcome
to my stop on the Virtual Book Tour, presented by Goddess
Fish Promotions, for Crimson Son by Russ Linton. Please leave a
comment or question for Russ to let him know you stopped by. You can enter his tour wide giveaway, where Russ
will be awarding a $10 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner and another winner
will receive a signed copy of Crimson Son (US ONLY), both prizes awarded via rafflecopter
during the tour. You can follow the rest
of his tour by clicking on the banner above, the more stops you visit, the
better your odds of winning.

Dream
Cast for Movie of Crimson Son by Russ Linton

I’d
love to see Crimson Son be made as a movie. Most authors want to see this
happen – it’s a sign you’ve “made it” as an author I suppose. Plus there’s
Hollywood money. That doesn’t hurt.

Many
writers have casting lined-up as they write, giving them a solid fix on
appearance and maybe even a bit of character influence. For me, this is the
first time I’ve considered it and because of that, this is actually a tough
question to answer.

What
makes it even harder is that many of the characters in Crimson Son are young
and often, the best way to cast that is to find a relatively unknown, fresh
face.

Spencer: Barring a spunky
newcomer, I’d say Asa Butterfield. It would be interesting to see him outside
of the serious, introverted roles he’s best known for. There are plenty of deep
scenes for him to sink his teeth into along with a chance to adopt a new,
snarky persona.

Sean: (aka Crimson
Mask): As an absentee father of sorts, Sean doesn’t appear much in the book. Daniel
Craig comes to mind pretty quickly, and while he’s ripped and intense, I’m not
quite sure he’s big enough. Maybe some camera tricks? Henry Cavil could work as
well. Yeah, he’s already played Superman but the dark, broody version he
brought to the screen would actually make more sense as Crimson Mask.

Black Beetle: This one is
tough. I’m going to say Michael Emerson because he seems to creep people out,
no matter the role. Shave his head and let him stare at people with that flat,
alien sorta look he can do and his tiny mouth and even I’d be convinced.

Connie: The scene where
Connie is kidnapped was so hard to write because I needed her to be terrified
but holding back that fear for Spencer’s sake. Without getting too much into
spoilers, Charlize Theron could pull off that complicated mix and carry
Connie’s strong, emotional presence throughout the film.

Eric: I want to say
Jonah Hill (Superbad era) but he’d need to put a bit of weight back on and
might be a too old now for the part. Still fighting for newcomers, maybe Jacob
Wysocki (Terry). He’s relatively new and I don’t know his full range as an
actor, but I think he could pull it off and even add a bit more dimension to
Eric’s character than perhaps came across on the page.

Emily: Olivia Wilde is
perfect for the role. Looks are spot-on and I can see her pulling off the right
amount of guilt-ridden, big sister sorta feel for her relationship with Spence.
Plus I can see Spence being rendered speechless (well, nearly) when she’s the
first person he sees after two years in a bunker.

Hound: Michael Douglas.
He’s got that air of confidence and charisma. I could totally see him as an
ex-marine staring down Spencer, trying to figure out just what to do with that
mouthy “kid”.

Hurricane: Christopher
Plummer has the right look, but I can’t think of a role where he’s played
anything close to Hurricane (though he’s a great actor with more movies I’ve
not seen than those that I have.) Gene Wilder has the right amount of crazy to
do it though.

Charlotte: What’s sad here
is I immediately thought of Game of Thrones Maisie Williams, but Charlotte is
actually of Asian descent. Hollywood desperately needs some diversity in that
department. I want to say Doona Bae (Cloud Atlas – one of the Asians they
didn’t yellow face. That make-up trick might have been cool if it weren’t for
the terrible representation of Asians overall…) but she’s not the right age.

Xamse: So, yeah, this is
depressing. I resorted to Google searches. No, I don’t think Will Smith’s kid
would work. Then I recalled Adrian Kali Turner from Walking Dead. About the
right age and if he can pull off convincing drama amid the horror of a zombie
apocalypse, then he’s got a bit of insight in Xamse’s level of pain. Xamse has a comparatively short but vital role in Crimson Son,
and is one of my favorite characters.

His
mother kidnapped, his superhero father absent, powerless Spencer Harrington
faces a world of weaponized humans to prove himself and find the truth.

Nineteen-year-old
Spencer is the son of the Crimson Mask, the world's most powerful Augment.
Since witnessing his mother's abduction by a psychotic super villain two years
ago, he's been confined to his father's arctic bunker. When the
"Icehole" comes under attack from a rampaging robot, Spencer launches
into his father's dangerous world of weaponized human beings known as Augments.

With
no superpowers of his own save a multi-tool, a quick wit and a boatload of
emotional trauma, Spencer seeks to uncover his mother's fate and confront his
absentee superhero father. As he stumbles through a web of conspiracies and top
secret facilities, he rallies a team of everyday people and cast-off Augments.
But Spencer soon discovers that the Black Beetle isn't his only enemy, nor his
worst.

EXCERPT

The sound of dry leaves cascading
downhill gets louder. My forehead lies flat on the cool earth and stubbornly,
my head refuses to turn when I try to get a better look. My eyeballs feel
disconnected and keep spinning, no matter how hard I focus. I see running shoes
and black, ankle-length stretchy pants approaching. Maybe an Augment?

Wiry arms encircle my chest
and start to pull. My moon boots catch at an awkward angle along the frame. As
much as I’d love to, I can’t get my limbs to cooperate. She lifts and shifts
and twists, struggling with my dead weight until the boot comes free and we
tumble backwards. Smooth, damp, cool skin envelops my face for an instant and
despite the mental numbness, my thawing hormones recognize the source.

Real, honest to God,
non-digitized breasts. Goodbye, iPod diva.

The mystery girl struggles to
her feet and drags me away from the crash site. Gently, she lays me on my side
and kneels. A highlighted strand of dark brown hair has escaped her ponytail,
dangling down her cheek. Her eyes glow with green flecks in the woodland light.
Her lips are parted as if she’s mid-sentence. No makeup, just sweat and a
smudge of dirt, all forming a stunning image.

I roll over and clamber to my
knees, palms flat on the ground. Standing would be a good start. Impressive,
even. Heck, it would impress the hell out of me if I can manage to get vertical
with the earth moving this much. I stagger to my feet while she keeps her hands
poised to stop the impending face plant.

Figuring out some ingenious
way of explaining how I crash landed in the woods that a) makes me sound
badass, and b) convinces her I’m not an alien invader (unless she’s into that)
isn’t working out at the moment. I could say something cool: “Me? I’ve seen
worse.” Or go the funny guy route: “I meant to do that.”

Opening my mouth is a big
mistake.

I really hope she didn’t like
those shoes.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

In
the fourth grade, Russ Linton wrote down the vague goal of becoming a “writer
and an artist” when he grew up. After a journey that led him from philosopher
to graphic designer to stay at home parent and even a stint as an Investigative
Specialist with the FBI, he finally got around to that “writing” part which he
now pursues full time.

Russ
creates character-driven speculative fiction. His stories drip with blood,
magic, and radioactive bugs. He writes for adults who are young at heart and
youngsters who are old souls.

Local
/ Personal Bio

Russ
lives in Denton, Texas where he writes beside an unnervingly quiet dog with the
support of his history-obsessed son and his extremely patient wife. He
regularly pursues community service and is currently scoutmaster for his son’s
Boy Scout troop. He is a regular at the North Branch Writers’ Critique Group
and has honed his craft through creative writing courses with Stanford
University’s continuing studies program as well as writing workshops at local
conventions.

Russ
holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do which was marginally more useful in a former
life not making his living from behind a desk. He enjoys the outdoors and when
he isn’t leading his scouts on virtual campouts in Minecraft, he’s making them
haul their gear across state parks in the North Texas area.

9 comments:

All hail the Queen! Thank you for hosting this leg of the tour. I'll be dropping by to answer questions. If any posters out there have already read the book do you have thoughts on the casting? If you -haven't- read the book, the eBook is currently on for .99 during my Blog Tour, so grab a copy!

You're welcome, Anita. The scenes before this are intense so there needed to be a bit of a chance for everyone to laugh. I must have gotten it right 'cause the punchline with the shoes was a favorite among the beta readers and my crit group. Hope you win and if not, grab a copy and check it out!

My favorite is Spencer's scene when he finally finds his Mom. As crazy as the book is, all the action and banter type scenes were fun to write, but the more grounded, serious scenes are equally gripping. Between all the chuckles, you might shed a tear :)

About Me

Welcome to the Queen of All She Reads Blog. I review all genre of books. Whatever catches my fancy. I either purchase the books or receive the books through a book tour, NetGalley, or the publisher. I do not get paid to review any book.
If you wish to submit your book for review, please see my review policy.
Thank you

Check Out My Stops

Stop Book Piracy In All Forms

Both EBook and Print

Check Out My Stops

Copyright

Reviews, posts and special features are the property of Queen of All She Reads unless otherwise noted. Please don't use them or claim them as your own. The graphics on my site are also the property of Queen of All She Reads, unless provided by a publisher or promotional company for use during a feature.Graphics appearing on the site have been paid for and/or are used with expressed permission from the owner. I do not hold any copyright to any images unless otherwise noted. Please contact me directly if you have any questions about any of the pictures/graphics used on this site.